Five officers of the Indian Navy and three from the Indian Coast Guard graduated as Observers at an impressive ceremonial passing out parade held at INS Garuda, the Naval Air Base at Kochi on August 24. Rear Admiral Ashok Kumar, VSM, Flag Officer Sea Training reviewed the parade and awarded the ‘Wings’ to passing out officers.
During the 46 week course, the officers were trained in tactics employed in Air Warfare, Anti Submarine Warfare and the exploitation of ESM systems in addition to the basic training in Air Navigation and flying procedures. These officers would function as ‘The Airborne Tacticians’ onboard Maritime Reconnaissance and Anti-submarine warfare aircraft of the Navy.
While Lt Lalit Yadav was awarded the Uttar Pradesh Trophy for being first in overall order of merit, Asst. Commandant Kamal Adhikari was awarded Sub Lt RV Kunte Memorial Book Prize on being adjudged best in ground subjects.
Addressing the parade after presenting the trophies, Rear Admiral Ashok Kumar, VSM, Flag Officer Sea Training , emphasised that Naval aviation is a prized asset of our forces, for no battle could be won without the vital inputs of the Naval Air Arm. He reiterated that with several new inductions on the anvil such as P8I and MRH, the future promised numerous challenges and added responsibilities to Naval Aviation as a whole. In order to exact the very best from Indian state-of-the-art inventories, he exhorted the budding aviators to strive towards high levels of professional competence. He advised the young officers to keep abreast with the developments in world, which is a must for personnel in uniform. He also advised them to be adaptive in any mission, for the complexities of war are various. Above all, the Chief Guest reminded the young graduates to be cognizant of the fact that herein after, they would be required to operate on missions independently and maturely without the supervision of their instructors. Mission success would be the singular aim of their every endeavour and that the basics imbibed herein would have to be built upon to achieve this goal. In conclusion, the Admiral again congratulated the graduating officers, the award winners and Office–in-Charge of Observer School on timely completion of course and presenting a spectacular parade.
Captain H S Sapre, Commanding Officer INS Garuda was the conducting officer. The passing out officers were trained at Observer School, commanded by Commander Vijayant Singh.
[mappress] Naval Today Staff , August 27, 2012; Image: Indian Navy